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Meet the Next Artistic Director of NAC French Theatre: Mani Soleymanlou
August 18, 2020Theatre director, playwright and actor Mani Soleymanlou will be the next Artistic Director of NAC French Theatre, effective September 1, 2021. Mani will take over from Brigitte Haentjens at the conclusion of her nine-year term. NAC audiences will have already seen some of…
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Reconnecting with the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra
July 17, 2017In the spring of 2017 the NAC Orchestra was in residence for two days with 240 students from across New Brunswick as part of their Canada 150 Tour. Alexander Shelley, James Ehnes and members of the NAC Orchestra coached three Sistema ensembles, with a final concert featuring NAC Orchestra…
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15 X AT NIGHT: Dance in the urban landscape
July 10, 2017Choreographer Paul-André Fortier discusses why he created a dance performance for the outdoors. "Dancing outdoors is a completely different experience from performing on stage." explains Fortier. "On stage, you’re somewhat removed. You try to conceal the effort involved. But in this…
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Welcoming a new maestro to the podium: Alexander Shelley begins his tenure
October 13, 2015It’s like visiting an old friend. That’s how Alexander Shelley, the NAC Orchestra’s new Music Director, describes the joy we feel when we listen to live classical music. “There’s nothing that compares with revisiting pieces you know and love, and the enjoyment of having them performed…
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Ontario Scene Highlights
July 27, 2015Festival season is in full swing and Canadians everywhere are gathering to enjoy cultural activities outdoors. From Vancouver to P.E.I Shakespeare is performed in parks and on beaches, music of all kinds drifts through the warm night air and during the day families gather to watch buskers,…
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The WolfGANG Sessions: Music with a wild side
July 2, 2015The Mercury Lounge is a jewel of a nightclub in Ottawa's Byward Market. It's high ceilings, exposed brick walls and tall windows make it an elegant setting for live music and dancing into the wee hours of the night. It is not a place one would expect to hear classical music and that's what…
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A Harmonic Storm: Daniel Lanois with the NAC Orchestra
May 1, 2015In June 2013 Daniel Lanois visited the National Arts Centre to receive the Governor General's Performing Arts Award for lifetime achievement. Two years later Lanois is once again backstage at the NAC's Southam Hall - this time as a performer. "It's nice to experience this beautiful edifice…
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FACETS: A creative collaboration
April 28, 2015The restless, inquiring mind of award-winning performer-creator Tedd Robinson—Artistic Director of 10 Gates Dancing, an NAC Associate Dance Artist, choreographer, educator and Ottawa favourite — has resulted in a catalogue of innovative work blazing with witty originality and extraordinary…
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Molly Johnson sets the stage for Ontario Scene
March 18, 2015When Molly Johnson walked on stage at the programming announcement for Ontario Scene she had the audience in the palm of her hand. Her trademark smokey voice and sassy stage presence transported her listeners from an afternoon press launch to a late night club. Bille Holiday's music has…
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Taking flight: Scene festivals
January 20, 2015The NAC’s biennial Scene festivals showcase hundreds of established and emerging artists from different regions of Canada. It began with Atlantic Scene in 2003, followed by Alberta Scene (2005), Quebec Scene (2007), BC Scene (2009), Prairie Scene (2011), Northern Scene (2013) and the…
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The NAC: Bridging the two solitudes
August 19, 2014The National Arts Centre (NAC) is Canada’s only bilingual multidisciplinary performing arts centre. That’s right—the one and only! From the day it opened in 1969, the Centre’s mission has been to showcase the very best of the performing arts in Canada in both English and French. “From the…
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Music Alive Program: Nelson Tagoona in Cape Dorset
June 19, 2014Nelson Tagoona of Baker Lake, Nunavut is known for pioneering "throat-boxing." His blend of throat-singing and beat boxing electrified audiences at the NAC’s Northern Scene festival in April and May 2013, and his groove-driven music is infused with a positive message. Nelson is also a…
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Ontario Government announces support for Ontario Scene
March 28, 2014Imagine 600 Ontario artists taking over theatres, concert halls, clubs, galleries and artist-run centres throughout Ottawa-Gatineau. That's Ontario Scene, the next instalment in the National Arts Centre's highly-successful series of Scene festivals. From April 28 to May 10, 2015, Ontario…
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In conversation with President and CEO Peter Herrndorf about the NAC’s visual...
February 25, 2014The NAC is an extraordinary place. Over the past 14 years, I have been dazzled by the thousands of incredible artists working on one or more of the NAC's four stages. But the NAC is also a galvanizing idea. It's the idea that by working together with artists and arts organizations in…
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Northern Artists Wow Halifax
December 17, 2013Our Northern artists knocked it out of the park last week at the Arctic Inspiration Prize ceremony in Halifax. When Arnold Witzig asked the National Arts Centre to produce a performance similar to the Northern Scene’s Opening Ceremony in Ottawa last April, my team and I jumped at the…